Clause 40
Education and Skills Bill
9:45 am
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister, Children, Schools and Families; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
I am sure that my hon. Friend will have chance to contribute shortly.
An attendance notice follows the issue of a written notice by a local authority, as provided for in clause 39. Although the written notice must give at least 15 days’ notice of the issuance of an attendance notice, under clause 40, the local authority has a six-month window during which it can get around to issuing an attendance notice. If those provisions become law in 2013 or 2015 and are not overtaken by other eye-catching Government initiatives, it would be interesting to see how many such notices are actually issued. A six-month window, out of what will be in reality less than two years of a 16 or 17-year-old’s life, will eat into the time during which those provisions can be used.
Amendment No. 51, which was inspired by my friends in the National Union of Teachers, would add another condition that would have to be fulfilled before an attendance notice can be issued. In its briefing, the NUT states that the
“purpose of the amendment...is to help ensure the emphasis of the Bill is on the rights of young people to participate in education or training post-16 over and above an emphasis on a punishable duty”.
I expect and hope that my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings will expand on that point when he contributes to the debate.
The NUT went on to state that it is arguable that the effect of the amendment is largely cosmetic. It wrote:
“However, the NUT believes that such a presentational difference is vital if the overall message is as the Government clearly intends and if the system of enforcement is to be seen as very much a last resort”.